Picture of the Day: Portrait of an Eagle

In this beautiful portrait by Jamie King, we see a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), a bird of prey found in North America.

Did you know that they build the largest nest of any North American bird and the largest tree nests ever recorded for any animal species? They can be up to 4 m (13 ft) deep, 2.5 m (8.2 ft) wide, and 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) in weight. [source]

Additionally, bald eagles are not actually bald; the name derives from an older meaning of “white headed”. The adult is mainly brown with a white head and tail. The sexes are identical in plumage, but females are about 25 percent larger than males. [source]

The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States of America. The founders of the United States were fond of comparing their new republic with the Roman Republic, in which eagle imagery (usually involving the golden eagle) was prominent. On June 20, 1782, the Continental Congress adopted the still-current design for the Great Seal of the United States including a bald eagle grasping 13 arrows and a 13-leaf olive branch with its talons. [source]